Syrian economy down 40% since 2011

Syria's economy contracted some 40 percent since 2011, as this conflict affected every Syrian, it was announced here.
Not only the economy, but unemployment now exceeded 54 percent, as well as three-quarters of the population live in poverty, Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told the Security Council last night.
She confirmed that school attendance has dropped by more than 50 percent, and young people have few prospects of a bright future.
"We have lamented the possibility of a lost generation of Syria's children: it is now a reality," she said.
Some 12.2 million people are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance throughout the country, of which, more than five million of those in need are children, she sadly expressed.
Furthermore, the UN official said that violence has forced nearly half of Syrians from their homes, many of them multiple times. There are now some 7.6 million people displaced inside Syria, in addition, more than 3.2 million people have fled the country, with countries in the region and communities hosting refugees bearing an enormous burden.
With such figures, "this is the largest number of people displaced from conflict in the world," she noted.
The Council repeatedly called for the fighting to stop and hard hitting reports from the Independent Commission of Inquiry of ongoing abuses of human rights, civilians continue to be killed and injured every day, she said.
The Commission's recent report documented ISIL's brutality, she stressed, including its barbaric treatment of women and children and the systematic use of torture, murder, rape and enslavement.
Opposition groups, including designated terrorist groups, meted out brutal punishment and attack civilian services, as well as the government's aerial attacks, including with barrel bombs, have pounded civilian areas, IDP camps and civilian facilities.
Amos called before the Council, for an end to end to the bureaucratic steps which hinder the delivery of assistance, and pushed for the inclusion of medical supplies in convoys.
She also called for the lifting of sieges.
At the passing of resolution 2139 in February, she confirmed, there were 220,000 people besieged by either Government or opposition forces.
"212,000 remain besieged today," she said.
This Council must also push for an end to the violence that is destroying the people and the country and having such a destabilizing impact on the region.